D&D General Is Appendix N Still Relevant to D&D?

[SothFan]

I mean LOTS of people that started with AD&D 1E are still playing D&D.

Are they playing it or modern?

You asked:

original "Appendix N" list of inspirations were still relevant for modern D&D (5E 2014 and 2024).

 

[Reynard]

This is a hard question. Is classic fantasy needed for improv acting that is what seems to be modern D&D? No.

If you want a classic game, then look at classic media. For modern games I think you should look at modern media.

The activity will mimic its influences.

Emphasis mine.

This feels like an interpretation based on the popularity of Actual Play, and not anything related to how D&D is (heh) actually played at most tables.

 

[bedir than]

am not familair with that list, so I am not sure if you are saying they include a lot of that older stuff as well as newer stuff,

It's both old and new

And I think that's valid. Dragonlance and The Grey Mouser both still influence D&D and its direct variants. So does Wheel of Time and Shadow and Bone.

 

[prabe]

I am not familair with that list, so I am not sure if you are saying they include a lot of that older stuff as well as newer stuff, or if most of that older stuff is gone.

There's no question that Appendix N is not the only thing influencing modern D&D so I don't think it is worthwhile discussion in this thread.

The list in the ToV GMG is six pages long, broken up among fiction, games (board and video), TV and movies, and nonfiction, and it's chronological--it starts with Lord Dunsany in 1924 and comes forward to Martha Wells' Witch King in 2023 (in novels). So it includes old stuff and new stuff and media that Gygax couldn't even have contemplated.

 

[Reynard]

Are they playing it or modern?

You asked:

Do you think that some significant portion of people that started in the 70s and 80s are not playing 5E? I don't understand your line of questioning here.

But to be clear: yes, lots of people who started in the 70s and 80s continue to play D&D in its modern incarnation. They are neither dead nor dinosaurs.

 

[Reynard]

It's both old and new

And I think that's valid. Dragonlance and The Grey Mouser both still influence D&D and its direct variants. So does Wheel of Time and Shadow and Bone.

The list in the ToV GMG is six pages long, broken up among fiction, games (board and video), TV and movies, and nonfiction, and it's chronological--it starts with Lord Dunsany in 1924 and comes forward to Martha Wells' Witch King in 2023 (in novels). So it includes old stuff and new stuff and media that Gygax couldn't even have contemplated.

So Kobold at least thinks those older works are still relevant. And you can see that in their output more than WotC's I think.

 

[Parmandur]

The next D&D book has Innsmouth, Cthulu, and a ton of other direct lifts from Lovecraft.

I think D&D has a more diverse ingredients list in the soup now than 50 years ago, but the old stuff still bubbles in the cauldron and occasionally surfaces.

 

[Reynard]

The next D&D book has Innsmouth, Cthulu, and a ton of other direct lifts from Lovecraft.

I think D&D has a more diverse ingredients list in the soup now than 50 years ago, but the old stuff still bubbles in the cauldron and occasionally surfaces.

I almost feel like Lovecraft/Cthulhu doesn't "count" since it is so ubiquitous in all geek media.

 

[prabe]

So Kobold at least thinks those older works are still relevant. And you can see that in their output more than WotC's I think.

I think so, yes--though as you come through the chronological list, you find more more-recent books, so clearly there's some recency bias as well.

 

[Scribe]

Cthulhu was just added to Ravenloft. The answer is yes, it still matters.